Ordinary, simple gestures could offer amazing results. And this little acts create large ripples.

Ponder on these:

" Too often we underestimate the power of touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around." ---Leo Buscaglia.

"Kindness is the sunshine in which virtue grows." - Robert Green Ingersoll

"Those who bring sunshine into the lives of others, cannot keep it from themselves." - James M. Barrie.

"I expect to pass through this world but once. Any good therefore that I can do, or any kindness or abilities that I can show to any fellow creature, let me do it now.Let me not defer it or neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again." - William Penn.

Constant kindness can accomplish much. As the sun makes ice melt, kindness causes misunderstanding, mistrust, and hostility to evaporate." - Albert Schweitzer.

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness.
Kindness in giving creates Love." - Tao Te Ching.

Father-Son-Holy Spirit: 3 Divine Persons in 1 God

Beyond human comprehension. An amazing mystery.

God, The Father: Omnipresent (present everywhere) Omnipotent (unlimited & powerful) Omniscient (knowing everything) ,

The creation. Goodness in everything.
Adam & Eve
The garden of Eden.
The Great Fall.
The Satanic victory.
Unlimited Love. Boundless Mercy
The New Eve & New Adam

God, the Son : Redeemer of the World

Virgin Mary.
Magnificat.
The Fiat.
Jesus Christ. Endless Love.
Gethsemane.
The sorrowful passion
Golgotha. Source of Life. Immeasurable mercy.
Death and Resurrection.

The Eucharist.
The Second Coming.
The Union with the Holy, Mighty and Immortal God in Eternity.

Always pray and never be separated from Him as we journey through Life.

Letters of Bishop Zafra

Letters From Bishop Felix S Zafra ( First Bishop of Zamboanga del Norte Diocese )

The Apostolate for Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration
Ubujan District, Tagbilaran City, Philippines 6300

To you, dear in Christ : Greg and Eve

Happy Easter! How are you and the boys? Peace be with you and joy in the RISEN CHRIST!

In response to God's immense love and Divine Mercy (Jn: 3:16) and to His just complaint, "Could you not watch an hour with Me?" (Mt. 26:40). We are humbly and earnestly inviting you to join in the Apostolate for Perpetual Eucharistic Adoration.

The Good Lord grants us 24 hours a day, 168 hours a week "gratis et amore" (free and with love).

Please be generous. Visit Him in the BLESSED SACRAMENT. In your absence a votive light to flicker in the Adoration Chapel will be a pleasing sight and a welcome testimony of your love.

Thank you very much for your kind attention.

Sincerely in JMJT,

Felix S. Zafra
Bishop Emeritus, APEA

******************************************************
Oct 5, 2000

Dear Eve and Greg,

Really I cannot find adequate words. How I wish I could write in letters of gold. These lines are but a feeble expressions of my most heartfelt thanks and sincere appreciation of kind accommodation and generous services to this least of Christ's servants. In my inadequacy, I humbly ask St. Therese of the Child Jesus and the powerful intercession of our Lady of the Holy Rosary to let a shower of blessings from God , our loving Father.

May you grow in love for each other and the boys grow to mature as men inspite of the trials in life. Keeping you all in my grateful prayers with every good wish and blessings

Sincerely in JMJT,

+ Bp. Zafra
*********************************************
Oct 13, 2000

Dear Eve and Greg,

Deo Gratias! I arrived home safe and sound. The memories of a wonderful family in Chicago lingers. The sacrifices of their time, car, services and the warm comfort of their home are greatly appreciated.

In my inadequacy to thank you enough, I humbly offer my poor prayers to the Good Lord for His choice and abundant blessing of peace and prosperity upon all the members of the dear family.

From now to December, God willing I'll make efforts to visit Decoy and Peta who has been instrumental in bringing about goodness to the Caermare-Trabanca family.

Wishing you all the best

God's love, Jesus' hug and bless you all,

+ Msgr. Zafra P.S. May I have the address of your sister in Japan?
Bp. Emeritus of Tagbilaran Thanks, Bp. Zafra
*************************************************************

Manila
Jan. 14, 1999

Dear Eve and Greg,

Warm cordial greetings from the Philippines. Thanks be to God, I arrived safe and sound in early morning of Jan. 12, 1996.

Thank you very much for facilitating the visits to various places and for the generous donations I received from our friends.

I was stranded in Cincinnati due to heavy snow and freezing rains. I had the first experience of being in wheel chair from terminal to terminal.

Keeping you in my grateful prayers and wishing you all the best in 1999.

Sincerely in JMJT,

+ Bishop Zafra
*************************************************
Aug. 3, 1998

Dear Eve and Greg,

Due to the precarious health of my dear sister (Nang Naning) I have to postpone my trip to USA. I hope I can make it between Sept. 15 and October 15.

How are you and your young men? How are you enjoying your summer vacation? I hope you are all in good health.

Would you know of Spanish-speaking people who can make use of Holy Hour in Spanish? May I have the address of the new priest Perfecto Vasquez?

Keeping you in my prayers with every good wish and blessing.

Sincerely in JMJT,

+Bp. Zafra

Letter From Fr. Max

04/06/07 2:23:07 pm Central Standard Time

Hi Greg, Hi Eve,

It is nice to hear from you, and thank you very much for the prayers and Easter greetings. I pray that the Risen Lord stays with you each and every day of your life. You are always in my prayers. Please pass on my greetings to all my friends, especially those struggling with illness.

God's blessings, now and always.

Max

The Memorare and Anima Christi

Prayers To Live By

The Memorare

Remember, O most gracious Virgin Mary, that never was it known that anyone who fled to your protection, implored your help, or sought your intercession, was left unaided. Inspired by this confidence, I fly unto you, O Virgin of virgins, my Mother. To you I come; before you, I stand sinful and sorrowful. O Mother of the Word Incarnate! Despise not my petitions, but in your mercy hear and answer me Amen.

Anima Christi

Soul of Christ, sanctify me; Body of Christ, save me; Blood of Christ, inebriate me; Water from the side of Christ, wash me; O good Jesus, hear me; Within your wounds hide me ; Separated from you, let me never be; From the evil one protect me; And close to you bid me; That with your saints, I may be, praising you forever and ever. Amen.

In the Patient's Eyes (02/25/07)

In the Patient's Eyes

When in the patient's eyes tears flowed
I saw a star of hope and more
In the sky, while the waves bellowed
Below dashing to the waiting shore.

Self surrendered to the Power
Of the unseen Motivator
With its bracing April shower
As witnessed by this narrator.

As he welcomed the Word made Flesh
And led it into his sin-stained
Body of his being  made fresh;                                
When mire and mud of sin were drained.                                                                                                  

As the soft breath of dawn proclaimed
The life of day came to be seen;
The song with its lyric acclaimed
And permeated over the glen. 

The psalm of love. Tale of a journey                      
The song of life. An elegy.
A gospel of reality.

The gentle tears from the patient's eye
Galvanized my ministry. And I                  
Was bathed in my humanity.
"Tempus fugit. Memento mori."

(Note)  The Ministry of Care

Two men and a woman. They were Ministers of Care of St. Timothy Church, (which was recently merged with Holy  Child Jesus parish) who were scheduled on a Sunday for the  Catholic patients of the Swedish Covenant Hospital at the corner of California and Foster Avenues in Chicago, Illinois to give Holy Communion. I was one of the men. This poem was inspired by my encounter with a patient who shed tears of joy upon receiving the Holy Communion. This particular patient spoke a few English words but has the genius of Catholicism stamped in his system. This memorable experience flashbacked my seminary days - that a tear literally speaks the profound stirrings of a human soul in the quest for happiness and salvation. (Greg In Trabanca)

02/23/07 First Friday Station of the Cross

This is the day when practicing and devout Catholics observe the Stations of the Cross with prayer, song, and meditation on the 14 stages of Christ's sorrowful passion that culminated in his death on the cross.

The soup was served after the observance.

02/21/07 Ash Wednesday

Memento Morti - Remember death.

From dust thou art to dust thou shalt return! With this reminder, let us remember our point of destination which is vital in our earthly journey. And today, we ask our Creator to grant eternal rest to a dear friend who left this world to return to where he came from.

Use of Ashes

The use of ashes is believed to have its start in the 16th century by Pope Gregory, the Great.It was a sign of humility and mortality as well as for sorrow and repentance as told in the old Testament. A practice of the church by the 10th century was the receiving of ashes on the head as a reminder of mortality and sign of sorrow for sin. Ashes are from the burnt palm. In the Catholic church, the ashes are put on the forehead in the sign of the cross as a reminder of the anointing with oil in baptism. In other places, ashes are scattered on the top of the head.

All Catholics must observe abstinence and fasting.

The 2nd & 3rd degrees

Sunday, Feb. 20/07

The Emergence of a Company

Sat. Feb.20/07
Mass & Blessing of RC LEGACY OF ILLINOIS, INC. 1-847-961-3100 Phone
999 E. Touhy Ave., Suite 170-C Des Plaines, IL 60018 1-847-961-3101 Fax No.

RC LEGACY OF ILLINOIS is a realty and mortgage company with a unique business technique. It has the combination of networking and multi-level marketing plans coupled with financial education, treating those who join not as agents but as businessmen/women making them parts of the company.

There was Mass , Blessing, ribbon cutting, dinner and company business presentation . More than hundred people attended. The owner/founder and big bosses of the parent company RC LEGACY OF CALIFORNIA, INC came. It was a great success and many signed to join.

Feb.13, 2007. Tuesday. More snow.

Feb.12, 2007.Monday. Lincoln's Birthday.

Once again, Chicago was blanketed with snow.

Symptoms of Inner Peace

(Taken from the church's sunday bulletin)

" Be on the lookout for symptoms of inner peace. The hearts of a great many have already been exposed to inner peace and it is possible that people everywhere could come down with it in epidemic proportions. this could pose a serious threat to what has, up to now, been a fairly stable condition of conflict in the world."

Some signs and symptoms of inner peace:

* A tendency to think and act spontaneously rather than on fears based on past experiences.

* An unmistakable ability to enjoy each moment.

* A loss of interest in judging other people.

* A loss of interest in interpreting the actions of others.

* A loss of interest in conflict.

* A loss of the ability to worry. (This is very serious symptom.)

* Frequent overwhelming episodes of appreciation.

* Contented feelings of connectedness with others and nature.

* Frequent attacks of smiling.

* An increasing tendency to let things happen rather than make them happen.

* An increased susceptibility to the love extended by others as well as the uncontrollable urge to extend it.

Value of the Holy Mass

Friday:02/09/07

Tremendous Value of the Holy Mass

At the hour of death, the Holy Mass you have heard devoutly will be your greatest consolation.
God forgives you all the venial sins which you are determined to avoid. He forgives you all the unknown sins which you never confessed. the power of Satan over you is diminished.
Every Mass will go with you to Judgment and will plead for pardon for you.
By every Mass, you can diminish the temporal punishment due to your sins, more or less, according to your favor.
By devoutly assisting at the Holy Mass you render the greatest homage possible to the Sacred Humanity of our Lord.
Through the Holy Sacrifice, Our Lord Jesus Christ supplies for many of your negligences and omissions.
By piously hearing the Holy Mass you afford the Souls in Purgatory the greatest possible relief.
One Holy Mass heard during your life will be more beneficial to you than many heard for you after your death.
Through the Holy Mass, you are preserved from many dangers and misfortunes which would otherwise have befallen you. You shorten your Purgatory by every Mass.
During the Holy Mass, you kneel amid a multitude of holy Angels, who are present at the Adorable Sacrifice with reverential awe.
Through Holy Mass, you are blessed in your temporal goods and affairs.
When you hear Holy Mass devoutly, offering it to Almighty God in honor of any particular Saint or Angel, thanking God for the favors bestowed on him, etc.,etc., you afford the Saint or Angel a new degree of honor, joy, and happiness and draw his special love and protection on yourself.
Every time you assist at Holy Mass, besides other intentions, you should offer it in honor of the Saint of the day.
(These quotes are taken from the book THE HIDDEN TREASURE-HOLY MASS by St. Leonard. Imprimatur *Michael Augustine Archbishop of New York Jan. 2, 1890.)

Birth is the beginning...

My wife works at the Hospital in LDR (Labor & Delivey room). She loves her job. She is the first to witness the commencement of life. No better career in the world can offer you comfort than to discover that the alpha of life is within your vision . And within reach is also the omega of existence . In the hospital, that is.

Time flies.

A score and ten years ago, I was in the Land of the Morning, of sunshine and rain , of laughing shores and singing rivers, of coconut palms and green hills. I used to go home late with friends enjoying the blessings and curses of youth. We don't have designated drivers as we walked with our young feet . We were guided by the brilliance of the stars, by the lessons from nature.The night is our friend.

We loved our world with its hopes, its dreams, its promises. We made our life enjoyable, fruitful and lovable. Without our knowledge we envisioned Life as a journey.

Mediterranean Voyage

The Journey of a Lifetime

It was a memorable Mediterranean voyage seeing the world with its awesome beauty in the historical perspective. It was a trip of tourists on a budget scenario.

We flew. We cruised. We indulged in temporary luxury: the unforgettable 7-port, 12-day European vacation on the bluish, placid Mediterranean Sea.

After working all your life, you need a respite; days of wallowing in fun and thinking of only good days, excellent food, and wonderful company in a meditative scenario under the smiling skies, lovely ocean caresses by the amiable breeze, and beautiful people of the Holy, Mighty, Immortal One.

My wife - Evangeline "Eve/Vangie" Rueles Caermare Trabanca, a cousin (Belen) Babylane Rueles) the Buens , Dr. Wilfredo "Willy" and Zenaida, "Zeny" Buen, and I were tourists-passengers who belonged to the FEU-Nursing Alumni Association Group under the auspices of  Tess Manuel's Mundo Travel agency.

This was the maiden voyage of the Carnival Liberty and our first ocean travel across one of the Seven Seas. The cruise ship took us to the ports of  (1.) Naples, Italy (2) Dubrovnik, Croatia (3) Venice, Italy (4) Messina, Sicily (5) Barcelona, Spain (6) Cannes, France and (7) Livorno, Italy.

Before we boarded the queenly look and European-inspired interior Carnival Liberty, we stayed in Rome for 2 nights. We visited the Sistine Chapel; marveled at Michelangelo's work of arts displayed on the ceiling. We walked the Spanish Steps; petrified at St. Peter's Square (Piazza San Pietro) where the greatest church in Christendom, St Peter Basilica stands. We viewed the Vatican - "the smallest state in the world at the center of the largest spiritual kingdom."  However, we missed the Pope's audience but we threw 3 coins in Trevi Fountain and witnessed the glory of Rome in the Pantheon, which is the city's only architecturally intact monument from classical times

While at the Vatican, we experienced that peace in our soul; that there was a Force more powerful than this man-made world. " In the midst of the urban tumult, the Vatican is an island of peace and tranquility- a regal miniature," wrote G.K. Chesterton, an English Catholic writer.

1st Port: Naples, Italy.  A writer once said, " if you see Naples, you are ready to die." Naples, the third most populated city in Italy with a population of over one million sets on the northern edge of one of the most beautiful bays. It is a bustling city alive with colorful street life, numerous narrow and winding alleyways, quaint shops, and restaurants. Neapolitan cuisine is known worldwide for its savory pasta and pizza, its tasty fish and seafood dishes, its superb cheeses including the famous mozzarella cheese. Looming on a distance shaped like a lady basking in the August sun is the Isle of Capri, the playground of the rich and famous.

2nd Port: Dubrovnik, Croatia. It is naturally framed by a mountainous backdrop prides on its wealth of cultural and historical monuments. It is the homeland of the cravats or neckties.

3rd Port: Venice, Italy. Floating in the Adriatic Sea, Venice consists of panoramic islands connected by many canals. Truman Capote (1924-1984) said, "Venice is like eating an entire box of chocolate liqueurs at one go." Like venom, Venice poisoned us breathless with its charming sting. Its waterways dotted by gondolas brought homeland reminiscence of outrigger boats and sailboats. Coming from Mindanao, the southern island of the Philippines, we are reminded of Tawi-Tawi ( of the Sulu Archipelago) where the stilt villages of Sitangkai are known as Venice of the Far East.

4th Port: Messina, Sicily. It is a city of great interest for its arts is surrounded by a region of immense beauty. It is known as the "Gateway to Sicily". It lies under the foothills of the Peloritani Mountains, facing the straight of Messina, which takes its name from the city and is the umbilical cord joining Sicily to the continent.
Messina, as we see today, is a fine modern city, restored to its former splendor by a grid of wide, well-lit avenues, lined by buildings which are strictly earthquake-resistance, in the context of an extremely symmetrical and linear city layout.

5th Port: Barcelona, Spain is a dynamic and innovative Spanish city that unites the traditions of 2,000 years of history and its characteristic propensity for expansion, commerce, and creativity. It prides on its architectural richness, culture, transfor-  mations, organization, and modernity. Cathedral de la Sagrada Familia (Holy Family), its most distinctive landmark vividly depicted the modernist Antonio Gaudi's style. His designs combined stone, iron, and ceramics in a rather commanding and certainly irreverent fashion.

We saw: the Baptistry Chapel with its marble fonts, the chapel of St. Oleguer with its wrought-iron gate darkened by praying hands, and the smoke of devotional candles placed by the people in honor of the Christ of Lepanto which accompanied John of Austria at the Battle of Lepanto. We were guided: to the Ramblas, the soul of the city, "the most beautiful street in the world" according to the famous writer Somerset Maugham.

6th Port: Cannes, France is the venue of the Annual Film Festival and was our 6th port. Then we went to the principality of Monaco of which Monte Carlo is one of its districts and is made famous by the marriage of the pretty Hollywood actress Grace Kelley to Prince Ranier III of the Grimaldi Family that ruled the island. It was in a Monaco Club, that the hotel heiress Paris Hilton met her Greek billionaire shipping heir boyfriend, Paris Latsis ten years ago as a teenager.

In Monaco, we gambled. We lost. But we won that status symbol of being there in the pleasant place of the rich and famous. The guide said that "there is always a time and place for everything, for the principality of Monaco is a land where flowers of peace grow. It is a tiny land, described by French film director - playwright Marcel Pagnol, " where the arts can still live in the shade of the olive tree, close to the Latin Sea, where the authority of one only safeguards the liberty of all."

7th port: Livorno, a major Italian port city is an entry point to the beautiful city of Florence, the birthplace of the Italian Renaissance, and Pisa - home of the renowned leaning Tower, one of the wonders of the ancient world.

After the last glimpse and pose for posterity, the fun ship Carnival Liberty docked at the port of Civitavecchia, Italy. Then off we went to Leonardo da Vinci's Airport. Arrivederci, Roma!

The journey of a lifetime is replete with wonderful memories......

Sunday. Feb. 4, 2007.

What is the greatest source of hope in your life?

Let us pray...

Merciful Lord, you are our hope, our strength. In the cold winter of our life, we ask thy loving heart to be with us through our discouragement, our unbelief. Because in you alone we find complete assurance. Amen.

Despite the manifestation of success, I felt the sensation of a failure. There is that gnawing feeling of insecurity because I was not born like one of them. Then discouragement enveloped my whole being. I felt trapped with no way out. In short, doubt has taken control of me.

I turned to devotional prayer, to Holy Mass , to motivational books, the Bible, to meditation & being alone thinking of nothing but God and his amazing goodness, to being alone in a harbor or shore watching the waves, or by the the window gazing at the beauty of God's painting on the park.

It's a long, winding, rough , dirt road to discovery. And to say the least, I found it in the sanctum of my being. In the beauty of my attitude.

Lost but not forgotten

Friday. Feb. 2, 2007

Lost but not forgotten...

Somebody has got to do something. It could be small thing. Big thing. Few thing. Many things. Or anything.

A particular person left something. And one of her great many things is a legacy to the world in turmoil. She left this quote:

"No kind action ever stops with itself. One kind of action leads to another. A good example is followed. A single act of kindness throws out roots in all directions, and the roots spring up and make new trees. The greatest work that kindness does to others is that it makes them kind themselves." - Amelia Earhart.

Amelia Earhart was the first woman to courageously fly solo across the Atlantic on July 1, 1937.
However, on July 2nd her plane mysteriously disappeared. And she just fade out of the skies and never heard from her again.

She disappeared. Lost. But has found a place in the heart of humanity.

I have learned in the Catechism class that there are 12 fruits of the Holy Spirit. They are 1. charity 2. joy 3. peace 4. patience 5. Kindness  6. goodness 7. generosity 8. gentleness 9. faithfulness 10. modesty 11. self-control 12. chastity.

How about sharing these fruits, especially the act of kindness? Tell friends you met to plant trees that bear the fruits of the Holy Spirit so that we can eat the fruit of kindness every day. Remember Johnny, the Appleseed?

Spread the good news! The 7 continents would be filled up with 12 kinds of beautiful trees; trees whose leaves absorb the carbon dioxide of selfishness, anger, war, violence, terrorism, blind obedience, hatred, pride, envy, lust, and sloth.

And by eating the fruits of these trees we will have wisdom, understanding, counsel, fortitude, knowledge, piety, and fear of the Lord.